{Speaking Truth to Empower} Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Hasson’s arsenal…
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On Thursday, a federal magistrate decided a neo-Nazi Coast Guard lieutenant accused of plotting to murder prominent Democrats may be granted pre-trial release. The judge stated this was because the defendant wasn’t accused of murder or terrorism charges.
It doesn’t matter to the judge this well-armed self-described White supremacist allegedly planned to kill well-known Democrats? Is the judge saying it is irrelevant his stated intent was “to kill almost every last person on the earth?”
Why is the judge playing Russian roulette with the lives of the citizenry here?
Thursday, Magistrate Judge Charles Day decided US Coast Guard officer Christopher Paul Hasson could be freed from custody if defense lawyers came up with favorable release conditions. Mr. Hasson was arrested in February, at the Coast Guard Headquarters, in Washington D.C., where he worked. It was discovered he had an assassination hit-list targeting left-leaning politicians and media figures. Federal investigators searched his home in Silver Springs, Maryland—and found over 1,000 rounds of ammunition and multiple automatic weapons.
Hasson plead not guilty last month to illegal possession of firearm silencers and illegal possession of firearms by an unlawful user. Reportedly, he has been stockpiling weapons since 2017. He faces 31 years in prison.
Politicians on Hasson’s hit-list included: Maxine Waters, Kamala Harris, Sheila Jackson Lee, Cory Booker, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke, Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Nancy Pelosi, Richard Blumenthal, Tim Kaine and John Podesta. Media personalities on his hit-list were: Van Jones, Don Lemon, Chris Hayes, Chris Cuomo, Ari Melber And Joe Scarborough. Civil Rights and Black Power icon Angela Davis was also a target.
Hasson, a neo-Nazi has been a White power skinhead for 30 years. He has worked at the Coast Guard for twenty years, where he apparently used workplace computers to compile his hit-list and plan possible attacks. Among those cited as inspiration by Hasson is Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik—who murdered 77 people and injured 319 in Norway, on July 22, 2011.
Hasson’s odious ideas and murderous objectives are outlined in court documents. A former Marine officer, he has stated his aim “to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.” He said as a “long-time White nationalist,” he was calling for “focused violence.” He also complained “We need a White homeland as Europe seems lost.”
Hasson is a believer in the “White genocide theory.” This racist concept posits that immigration, and things like racial integration, is a plan to replace the White Christian populations of America and Europe. Hasson’s neo-Nazi mentality is evident in his comment that “I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth.”
This is the man Judge Day decided to release?
Prosecutors wrote “The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct.” He has also been accused of amassing growth hormones and steroids “to increase his ability to conduct attacks.” Here was apparently following the directions of White supremacist Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik.
Still, Judge Day has decided he may very well allow Hasson to leave jail. It’s hard to understand what this judge is thinking.
According to CNN, Judge Day said Hasson has “got to have a whole lot of supervision. Somebody who’s got eyes and ears on him like nobody’s business.” Day also stated he has “grave concerns” about Hasson. This defies the logic of his judicial decision.
In these statements, Judge Day has made the case for not releasing Hasson. If Hasson must be monitored with “eyes and ears on him like nobody’s business,” why would Judge Day let him walk the streets? He has “grave concerns,” but is willing to release this neo-Nazi terrorist?
On Friday, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters—one of Hasson’s targets—lambasted Judge Day’s decision. “There is no credible justification that can explain why a federal judge would allow someone as clearly dangerous and unrepentant as Hasson to walk free while he awaits trial,” Waters said. Waters also believes President Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric has made many of his critics “walking targets.”
“Members of Congress must now recognize that many of us who have taken hardline positions against the Trump administration are walking targets and we must use every resource at our disposal to protect ourselves since we cannot expect any assistance from the current Administration,” Waters said. “Those of us in Congress and among the president’s ‘enemies of the people’ cannot be assured that Hasson would be kept at bay with the minimal level of oversight the federal judge would prescribe.”
This was the second time last week where we saw judicial indifference at play in America’s court system. And the difference between these two cases are written in Black and White.
On Tuesday, Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise presided over a miscarriage of justice that sent an innocent man, Chanel Lewis, to prison for life. Lewis, 22, was convicted of murdering 30-year-old Karina Vetrano, in a trial tainted by jury misconduct and institutional racism. Judge Aloise, known as a pro-prosecution judge, ignored all the signs of serious jury misconduct. He disregarded the fact the Queens’ D. A.’S office, and NYPD, likely withheld evidence that prove Lewis’ innocence.
Why is Chanel Lewis now in prison? Besides being Black and poor, Lewis is mentally challenged. The NYPD’s tactics in getting his “confession” reeks of the foul play that happened in the Central Park Five case. If Lewis was a White man would he have been convicted?
Conversely, if Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher Hasson was Black does anyone think he would be getting released? Moreover, what are the chances he would have made it to arraignment alive? White killer-cops are killing Black people all over the place for phantom weapons they never saw.
These two judicial decisions are examples of the inherent institutional racism at play in American courts. Here we have Hasson stockpiling weapons, and other means of carrying out attacks on people and a judge decided he could be released. Does Judge Day not see he may come to regret his decision?
Hasson is facing 31 years in prison and seems to be obviously maniacal—and suicidal. The government showed photos of all the illegal guns they seized from his house. What if Hasson decides instead of waiting to be found guilty that he will just go out in a blaze of glory?
Do authorities know for sure whether Hasson has access to other weapons? Isn’t it very possible he has reserve weaponry somewhere else? If this is the case, releasing Hasson could turn out to be a deadly mistake.
Unfortunately, in recent times we’ve seen the reemergence of violent racism. The Presidency of Donald Trump has been a major factor in this comeback of brutal bigotry, with nativist cries of “build the wall,” and attacks against “shithole countries.” Words have consequences—especially, those coming from the mouths of political leaders.
In the past several months, we’ve seen several White supremacists on the rampage.
On October 27, 2018, accused murderer Robert Bowers killed 11 Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Bowers made delusional claims about a supposed “White genocide,” and on the day he perpetrated mass murder complained that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) “likes to bring invaders that kill our people.”
Last March 15, 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant, and Australian, murdered 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Tarrant called President Donald Trump “a symbol of renewed White identity.”
Luckily, no one was killed when MAGA bomber, Ceasar Sayoc Jr.,56, sent some 16 bombs to many of the same targets as U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher Hasson. Given these cases, one would think Judge May would’ve taken Hasson’s domestic terrorism threats more seriously.
Then again, Hasson is White.
